Vietnam:

Hanoi University of Technology

Vietnam National University

Japan:

Keio University

Supported by:

Hitachi, Ltd.

Abstract

Keio University provided two WBT programs in social sciences and humanities to 20 students of the Institute of International Relations, Hanoi, Vietnam. The objective was to explore the possibilities of e-Learning in non-skill-transfer courses.

The Experiment

The majority of the social sciences and humanities courses provided at college and university level are considered non-skill-transfer courses (hereinafter referred to as NSTCs), where various competing "answers" are expected. On the other hand, the SCORM-based platform is suited for skill-transferring, where the same results among learners are expected. This project was conducted to explore the possibilities of introducing e-Learning in NSTCs.

In this experiment, the following two programs were provided: "Interactive Fieldwork" and "Postwar Origins of East Asian Development". Both courses covered topics that can be studied across the region. Four institutions in Vietnam and two in Thailand participated in creating the materials. The following issues concerning NSTCs were examined in these programs:

• Effects of using multimedia materials.
• Learners' learning attitude and quality of the material.
• Function of the learning support system, such as teaching assistants.
• How to evaluate the consequence of learning.
• Effectiveness of the SCORM-based platform.

  
  Interactive Fieldwork

  
  Postwar Origins of East Asian Development

Outcome

The results obtained from this project.

• Learners' level of interest differed greatly among various multimedia materials. Thus, to stimulate the learners' intellectual curiosity, visual materials must be incorporated into the content more systematically. The learners' learning attitude was analyzed from questions and answers, chat, and WBT logs. From these analyses, the quality of the materials can be examined.
  
  
• Regarding support systems, the possibility of web contact and online "office hour" was suggested.
  
  
• There is a need to devise methods to evaluate the consequences of learning, other than the conventional text-based reports and the exclusive evaluation by the instructors. This presents a need for cooperative learning.
  
  
• To utilize the SCORM-based WBT logs more effectively, it must be customized. For example, synchronization between WBT logs and PowerPoint slides will be useful in evaluating the effects of specific materials.

For further development, Keio University plans to extend the program throughout Vietnam. They also hope to increase the topics in NSTCs, and find ways of evaluation by introducing cooperative learning, customize WBT logs, and create multilingual contents.